Business Intel
By M aya G a l a khova
Are you thinking of buying a house?What are the factors you should be considering? Should you wait or should you buy now? According to NurridinIkhromov, a highly knowledgeable Real Estate professor at California State University, Sacramento, now is the perfect time to buy a home!
Prospects for “Buying a Home” in Today’s Real Estate Market
traditionally live with the youngest son. Those are the types of congruent care cultural differences that we come upon. Therefore I am able to draw from personal and cultural experiences and compare.
Professor Ikhromov believes that within the real estate and mortgage crisis, there are incredible opportunities for home buyers. With an understanding of mortgages, patience and determination, you can be on your way to owning your dream home. How did you become a real estate professor at Sacramento State? I began by attending college in Uzbekistan where I majored in economics. I was selected for a government scholarship program that sent students to the United States. Through the program, I was sent to Pennsylvania where I attended Penn State University and I majored in business. I had a professor from University of California, Berkley and he suggested that I apply to graduate school. Eventually I did apply and I ended-up studying in his department which was Real Estate. I then chose to come to Sacramento to teach because I like the overall environment of the town and the diversity within this community.
Being from another country, how does your cultural heritage affect your teaching? When it comes to what I cover in class, I am definitely able to bring out examples from my own background. In one of my classes, we are talking about a case which involves senior care facilities. One of the questions in the case was how do people decide where their parents stay in their old age – do they stay with the kids or do they send them away to some sort of a facility? Where I come from, the parents
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CSUS is known to have a very diverse body of students. Do you believe that cultural differences pose for challenges or contribute to a more dynamic learning environment? It does pose some challenges but I think they are minor challenges. And when I say challenges, I mean that some students have trouble speaking English very well so they are sometimes too shy to participate class discussions. But it is relatively easy to overcome so I always encourage people to participate even though they may feel slightly uncomfortable to speak.
It also brings many positives, such as students being able to draw from cultural perspectives.
Based on your knowledge, does U.S. education system differ from that of Eastern European and Asian systems? If yes, in what way? Yes, of course. One major difference is the cost – the cost is much higher here, although historically, California has done an excellent job at making college affordable. But, due to budget cuts, however, I believe that within the next few years students will be picking-up most of the cost of their education. Where I grew up education was almost free. However, American schools – at least in terms of graduate schools – are much better in supporting students. American leads the world’s school systems in the areas of research, science, and math. The U.S. is known for having very high quality professors. Students come from all over the world because the quality of the education here is much better.
Immigrant communities are famous for having a great number of realtors and mortgage officers whose expertise comes from a ‘hands on experience' rather than a college education. As a university professor who teaches Real Estate, what is your opinion on 'selfmade' specialists and the consumers who utilize their services? For someone who just sells houses, you do not need a college education. Where it’s useful is to differentiate one’s self from others. If you have two brokers, one can analyze the market and discuss what is going on with recent trends. The other can just sell houses. It helps differentiate and separate you from the competition. When the market is down and houses are not selling, the way to separate yourself is with skills like software training and so forth that are acquired through a college education.
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